Lessons From a Father
by wallscrolls
Summary: Kenjirou taught his children about many things.


A/N: A request from my beta, who wanted something for Father's Day involving Kenjirou. I, of course, had to go and make it terrible. Oops.

* * *

Do you know the feeling of comforting arms embracing you?

Ayano does. She knows this feeling because her father is holding her tightly. Her knee doesn't even hurt anymore, the knee she fell and scraped to the point where it started bleeding. She didn't even mind it much, but her father brought out a first aid kit even though she told him she was fine. He sprayed the painful disinfectant on it and put the bandage on it. She kept her brave face on even when it stung and hurt more than the scrape had in the first place. She let him do it because it was going to make her better, and when he finished he pulled her into a hug.

"You're such a good girl, Ayano."

In that moment, she's surrounded by warmth. She doesn't care that he hasn't let her go back to playing just yet. She doesn't mind, because he truly cares for her, and even if it's just a little scrape, he wants to make sure that nothing bad happens to her. Everything he does is because he loves her and her mother so much, and she feels that she must have the most wonderful family in the whole world.

He holds her close, and Ayano knows that everything is going to be alright.

* * *

Do you know the feeling of seeing a smile when you expected anger instead?

Kosuke does. He knows this feeling because this man in front of him is smiling, and that's something Kosuke has never seen through red eyes before. Always when he found himself hearing things that he shouldn't, the adults around him would make unpleasant faces or unpleasant thoughts. Even without telling them, most of them knew; they had figured it out and whispered amongst themselves and warned each other to be careful what you think when you see Kosuke's eyes turn that color. None of the other children realized it, but the adults had, so it had come to be the adults that Kosuke had been the most afraid of.

"Ah, I wouldn't be much of a dad if I got mad about a little thing like that, would I?"

He isn't glaring at him. He isn't even upset. Kosuke knows because he can hear so much more than he should, though the man can surely see the way his eyes are bright red. This is the first man who has stared at his red eyes and not shied away from them. He's smiling, and though he's afraid, he's only afraid that Kosuke already thinks that he's just another adult who will treat him badly for things beyond his control. It's a completely different fear than what Kosuke is used to hearing, and he's not sure how to react in this situation.

He's not even lying, and Kosuke knows that this person might actually treat him the way he's heard a father is supposed to.

* * *

Do you know the feeling of a vice squeezing your heart?

Tsubomi does. She knows this feeling because there is a man in front of her crying over a photograph. It seems like only yesterday that the six of them had been living happily together, the closest family she ever knew. She had parents who had loved her, something she had never known before. It was so wonderful it had almost seemed like a dream. She had never wanted to wake up from it to find this terrible reality waiting for the five of them that remained behind.

"Ayaka… if only this sort of thing hadn't happened…!"

He doesn't know that she's there, she thinks, which is why she gets to see him like this. When he knows that he's around them, he's always putting on a strong face. He smiles a lot less than he used to, now that he's the only adult in the house, but he doesn't cry in front of them. Not unless she catches him like this. She'd never seen him cry before, but now she sees it all the time. Though he hides it from the rest of them, there's no way for him to hide how he's been completely emotionally devastated.

He lets out another sob, and Tsubomi knows that things can never go back to the way they were before.

* * *

Do you know the feeling of hands tightening around your throat?

Shuuya does. He knows this feeling because the man he'd gone so far as to start to love as his father has his fingers around his neck. No… this isn't that man. This is his body, this is his face sneering down at Shuuya, but this isn't him. Shuuya has always thought their red eyes had made them monsters, but he never fathomed those red eyes could create a monster like _this_. Long ago he had believed Ayano without wanting to believe her, but now he had long since passed the point where there was any chance at ignorance. He had watched the terrible things that the body in front of him did. He had watched that smile he misses so dearly get swallowed up in a snake's grin. He had heard the threats that voice uttered, and he knows, far too well, that those threats are more than empty words.

"You understand what happens if you screw up again, right?"

His vision spins and a choked sound slips out before he can stop it. That sneer doesn't wane, and there's no hint of a worried parent's expression beneath it. Shuuya knows he's only as useful as long as he cooperates, and has no idea how useful his siblings would be. He can't let it get to that point, because he has a promise to keep. He can only protect them as long as he's alive, and so for the sake of the four of them that are left, he follows the orders of the monster holding hostage everything dear to him that remains in this world. After all, he has seen just how easily he can tear everything to shreds. So he nods; he won't mess up a second time. He can't afford to.

He lets go, and Shuuya knows that everything will only get worse from here.


End file.
